May 2023 marks 20 years since the release of Girls Aloud's debut album Sound of the Underground.
An LP that spawned four Top 5 singles - its title track, No Good Advice, Life Got Cold and Jump - it truly cemented the Popstars: The Rivals winners as a pop force to be reckoned with, and forged the start of their ongoing relationship with production powerhouse Xenomania.
Now, as Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh prepare to reissue the record with some previously-unreleased material, we've crunched the numbers to reveal the group's biggest songs in the UK.
From the criminally-underrated Long Hot Summer to melancholic masterpiece Call The Shots and the bonkers brilliance of Biology, we've fully updated the girls' Official Top 40 biggest tracks. But before we get into the complete list, let's take a closer look at the Top 5.
MORE: Explore Girls Aloud's Official Charts history in full
5. Jump
Released: 2003
Official Chart peak: 2
UK chart units: 446,000
The group's cover of The Pointer Sisters' 1984 track Jump (For My Love) proved a huge success for Girls Aloud, peaking at Number 2 in November 2003. Recorded for inclusion in Christmas staple Love Actually, Jump has been streamed a total of 20.5 million times in the UK so far.
4. Call The Shots
Released: 2007
Official Chart peak: 3
UK chart units: 462,500
The second single lifted from Girls Aloud's fourth studio album Tangled Up, the sublime Call The Shots comes in third on the list. To date, Call The Shots has been streamed over 14.6 million times in the UK, and is also the group's second most-downloaded song behind The Promise (currently on 297,000 UK downloads).
MORE: Girls Aloud to release previously-unheard material
3. Love Machine
Released: 2004
Official Chart peak: 2
UK chart units: 580,000
Once wrongfully predicted by the group to be - in Nadine Coyle's own words - 'career suicide,' Love Machine is Girls Aloud's third biggest-seller to date. The second single lifted from their What Will The Neighbours Say? album boasts 39 million streams and 127,500 downloads in the UK.
2. The Promise
Released: 2008
Official Chart peak: 1
UK chart units: 765,000
Girls Aloud's fourth and final Number 1 single in the UK, The Promise lands in second place on the list. Having won the group a BRIT Award for Best British Single in 2009, the track is actually their most-downloaded ever (with 517,500 UK downloads and counting).
The Promise has also racked-up over 24 million UK streams to date.
1. Sound of the Underground
Released: 2002
Official Chart peak: 1
UK chart units: 1,028,000
With its iconic opening surf guitar, drum 'n' bass influence and ingenius 'Buy Girls, Bye Boys' marketing campaign, Sound of the Underground reigns as Girls Aloud's biggest single to date in the UK.
Having scored the girls their first UK Number 1 single (and a Christmas Number 1, at that) after a much-publicised chart battle against Popstars: The Rivals competition One True Voice, Sound of the Underground has gone on to shift over 1 million chart units to date.
The track's been streamed 38.8 million times in the UK - just shy of their most-streamed single Love Machine's total - and remains their biggest physical seller (562,000 copies).
Girls Aloud's Official Top 40 biggest songs on the Official UK Chart:
POS | TITLE | ARTIST | PEAK |
1 | SOUND OF THE UNDERGROUND | GIRLS ALOUD | 1 |
2 | THE PROMISE | GIRLS ALOUD | 1 |
3 | LOVE MACHINE | GIRLS ALOUD | 2 |
4 | CALL THE SHOTS | GIRLS ALOUD | 3 |
5 | JUMP | GIRLS ALOUD | 2 |
6 | SOMETHING KINDA OOOOH | GIRLS ALOUD | 3 |
7 | CAN'T SPEAK FRENCH | GIRLS ALOUD | 9 |
8 | I'LL STAND BY YOU | GIRLS ALOUD | 1 |
9 | BIOLOGY | GIRLS ALOUD | 4 |
10 | SOMETHING NEW | GIRLS ALOUD | 2 |
11 | THE LOVING KIND | GIRLS ALOUD | 10 |
12 | NO GOOD ADVICE | GIRLS ALOUD | 2 |
13 | SEXY NO NO NO | GIRLS ALOUD | 5 |
14 | WALK THIS WAY | SUGABABES VS GIRLS ALOUD | 1 |
15 | UNTOUCHABLE | GIRLS ALOUD | 11 |
16 | THE SHOW | GIRLS ALOUD | 2 |
17 | I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW | GIRLS ALOUD | 4 |
18 | LIFE GOT COLD | GIRLS ALOUD | 3 |
19 | LONG HOT SUMMER | GIRLS ALOUD | 7 |
20 | WAKE ME UP | GIRLS ALOUD | 4 |
21 | SEE THE DAY | GIRLS ALOUD | 9 |
22 | WHOLE LOTTA HISTORY | GIRLS ALOUD | 6 |
23 | THEME TO ST TRINIANS | GIRLS ALOUD | 51 |
24 | GIRLS ALOUD MEGAMIX | GIRLS ALOUD | |
25 | NOT TONIGHT SANTA | GIRLS ALOUD | |
26 | BEAUTIFUL 'CAUSE YOU LOVE ME | GIRLS ALOUD | 97 |
27 | ON THE METRO | GIRLS ALOUD | |
28 | I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY | GIRLS ALOUD | |
29 | JINGLE BELL ROCK | GIRLS ALOUD | |
30 | WITH EVERY HEARTBEAT | GIRLS ALOUD | |
31 | TEENAGE DIRTBAG | GIRLS ALOUD | |
32 | GIRL OVERBOARD | GIRLS ALOUD | |
33 | ROLLING BACK THE RIVERS IN TIME | GIRLS ALOUD | |
34 | JE NE PARLE PAS FRANCAIS | GIRLS ALOUD | |
35 | REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD | GIRLS ALOUD | |
36 | EVERY NOW AND THEN | GIRLS ALOUD | |
37 | LOVE IS PAIN | GIRLS ALOUD | |
38 | BLACK JACKS | GIRLS ALOUD | |
39 | MISS YOU BOW WOW | GIRLS ALOUD | |
40 | MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY | GIRLS ALOUD |
©2023 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
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